Game Development Reference
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media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the
migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search
of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want.” 35 Looking through a
convergence lens, content becomes “something that is increasingly shared with
those who one used to work for: audiences. he culture of industry therefore can
be seen as spilling over on to the creative process of consumption.” 36 Paratextual
board games reveal aspects of convergence, not just in the way they relect active
consumptive behavior, but also in the implicit interaction between the game
and its antecedent media text. here must be a certain level of adherence to an
original text and at the same time a deviance from that original text in order
to create a unique gaming experience. In fact, this deviance lies at the heart of
all paratextuality: as Gray notes, while a paratext is distinct from an original
text, it must also be like that text, as well as part of that text. 37 Without these
tenuous connections, the paratextual game would not have the same force of
textual meaning undergirding it; with too strong a connection, the game would
not allow enough freedom within the play mechanics to permit uncertainty to
become part of the game experience. here must therefore be a “happy medium,”
a hypothetical sweet spot between the authorial intent of the original text and
the original productivity of the players. hrough this tension between these two
concepts, the paratextual board game generates its unique play mechanics.
In terms of active consumptive behavior of paratextual board games, both
the Lord of the Rings games highlight how collaboration relects convergence
ideals. For Knizia's LOTR , the convergent activity of audiences arises from the
way players are encouraged to generate meaning alongside that of both Knizia
and Tolkien. As Knizia details, “distilling an epic story into a game” means both
incorporating “key parts of a story” and “presenting them in game form.” 38
Players must both incorporate narrative elements from the original Lord of
the Rings topics (taken from “top-down” processes of story construction, both
Tolkien's and Knizia's) and integrate their own gameplay narratives. he game is
split between two boards; on one board, individual Hobbit markers move ever
closer to Sauron. his “corruption” board is a representation of the individual
Hobbit's mental state, and if overtaken by Sauron, the Hobbit is taken out of the
game (Figure 2.1).
he other board is a representation of the events and stories that happen in
one of four locations in Middle-earth. On this “conlict” board, the Hobbits are
represented as a single group, participating in their ighting, traveling, hiding,
and friendship activities (Figure 2.2).
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